Sworded Affair

Chapter 10: Decimatio

Ordinarily, being encircled by multiple adversaries was a death sentence for a single person, no matter how skilled or strong they might be. It was impossible to guard every point of the body at once, meaning that multiple weak spots were inevitably left open to be exploited by the enemy. So why was Emma happy to charge into an obvious trap despite being far from a master of combat? Simply put, because she wasn’t actually a person at all where it mattered here. Swords weren’t made to shatter armor by design; their focus was to pierce weak points to get at an enemy’s vulnerable innards; an excellent tactic against squishy humans, but much less effective against her current form.

[-1 Anima]

Still locked in a contest of strength against the shield-bearer, Emma completely ignored the twin swords plunging into where her armpits would have been. Leaning into the blows, she jabbed her free hand at the dual wielding swordsman, twin steel tipped points piercing his throat with ease (do note, her Wolf trait wasn’t restricted to sword strikes alone). As the man fell to the floor, breathing his last desperate gasps, Emma eased up on her forward charge. Letting the shield-bearer force her back, Epitaph lashed out to cut the fisherman’s incoming net in two.

[-5 Anima]

She took a glancing blow to the helm from his trident in reply, but that was still much preferable to being entangled, and she got the better of the exchange with her follow up swipe, taking his eyes and effectively putting him out of the fight. As the fisherman fell to his knees grasping his face, Emma spared a second to look towards the archer. She found him training an arrow her way, but clearly hesitant to fire given the chaotic melee that initially embroiled her alongside his comrades. Holding Epitaph horizontally to parry an incoming shield bash from the shield-bearer; who had discarded his short-sword in favor of pure bludgeoning force, Emma made sure to keep him between her and the archer, much as she’d done against the lions in the previous trial.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Emma taunted, buoyed by her significant success so far. “Honestly, the lions were much harder than this!”

[+50 EXP

Anima restored to full.

The death of their companion has enraged the survivors.]

Immediately after issuing her boast, Emma was forced to throw herself bodily to the side, barely dodging a followup shield slam that cracked the earth where she’d stood just a moment ago.

[-50 Anima]

An arrow followed up, tearing a massive hole in her breastplate as the archer made his third shot count, putting his suddenly increased strength to good use. The shield-bearer meanwhile pivoted in place, rushing towards her like a living battering ram.

Note to self, don’t tempt fate. Emma thought as she backpedaled, no longer wanting to meet her opponent head on given his obvious empowerment. Changing tack, she sidestepped at the last moment, letting the shield-bearer overrun past her position. Epitaph arced downward, severing his femoral arteries, but unlike before she didn’t bother with a finishing blow. He’d bleed out soon enough, but Emma preferred to delay the enrage for as long as possible.

[-50 Anima]

She took another arrow to the knee for her troubles, plunging her Anima down to a third and leaving her one hit from death. Undeterred, Emma darted forward, this time zigzagging as she approached the archer. An arrow flew past, missing by inches, Emma bursting into a dead sprint the moment the miss registered. She arrived at her target well before the archer could reload his bow, and parted his head from his shoulders in a single swing.

[+100 EXP.

Anima restored to full.

You have leveled up!

Emma Knight - Level 3 Revenant

Alignment: True Neutral

Anima: 200

EXP: 285/400

Select one of the three options below:

1) Ability - Can I Play With Madness? (Cost: 10% Current Anima /second): Inflict visions of madness upon all who see you.

2) Ability - Summon Spectral Steed (Cost: 10% Base Anima): A horse is a horse, of course, of course!

3 Trait - The Ram: The faster you’re moving, the more damage you deal.]

The horse is very, very tempting. Was Emma’s first thought, as she flashed back to the long trek from her house, all of which would have been made so much simpler with a proper mount.

Nonetheless, she hesitated, because whilst transportation would be very convenient, it was something still possible to acquire through mundane means. Emma refused to believe that every car in the world had been destroyed, and it couldn’t be that hard learning to drive, right?

Better to go for even more damage. She decided in the end, selecting a passive trait for the second time running. Maybe I can make that a theme of mine?

[Trait - The Ram selected!]

There was no immediate rush of power this time, probably because Emma was standing still when she leveled up, meaning the trait had no chance to take effect. She didn’t have long to rest on her laurels either, given that there was still one enemy left on the field. Training her eyes on the blinded fisherman, Emma found him walking in circles on the opposite half of the arena, using his trident as a makeshift cane.

I’m not going to say this is an easy kill. Emma promised herself, having learnt from the last time she taunted Murphy, but sadly it appeared her caution wouldn’t matter this time.

[The faithful of Neptune is his cohort’s sole survivor. Water’s blessings rain down upon him.]

Emma paused in her advance, caution staying her stride as the fisherman found a second wind beneath a halo of purest blue.

Filled with newfound vigor, the fisherman grew in stature until he was twice Emma’s height and then some. His trident grew with him, shimmering with unnatural light whilst behind him, a geyser erupted from what was smooth marble floor mere moments ago, tendrils of water coalescing around the tips of his trident.

[Neptune’s Blessed - Level 5]

All in all, a most formidable opponent worthy of the namesake of an elder god. There was only one small oversight in the entire transformation though (no pun intended).

He’s still blind? Emma stared disbelievingly, barely resisting blurting it out in case it prompted the Dungeon to take notice and issue a hot-fix.

Up in the seat of the Imperator, Felix facepalmed.

—

Emma’s current stat sheet, 10 chapters in.

Emma Knight - Level 3 Revenant

Alignment: True Neutral

Anima: 200

EXP: 285/400

Abilities

Summon Unholy Sword {Epitaph} (Cost: 50% current Anima)

Traits

Undead: Immune to the petty concerns of the living. Only Anima matters.

Arcanivore: The living restore Anima when wounded or slain, based on damage dealt.

The Wolf: Your strikes are preternaturally sharp, tearing through flesh and steel with equal ease.

The Ram: The faster you’re moving, the more damage you deal.

Main Quests

Blood Borne

Objective: Find your Father

Objective: Find your Mother

Objective: Find your Brother [X]

Reward: ???

404 - Answers Not Found

Objective: Discover the cause of the Apocalypse

Reward: ERROR

When In Rome

Objective: Defeat Academia Mortalis

-Clear the First Trial [X]

-Clear the Second Trial

-Clear the Third Trial

-Clear the Fourth Trial

Bonus Objective: Deal with Imperator Felix Knight

Reward: First Hint (The Apocalypse)]

Bonus Reward: ???

Side Quests

High School Musical

Objective: Find a working digital music player

Reward: Built-in song library.